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2010 Mar 25 (Thu)

U of A Sustainable Development Campus

Kevin looks for updates regarding the U of A Sustainable Development Campus.

 

606 Alberta Hansard Tuesday March 23, 2010

Dr. Taft: Mr. Speaker, last November I raised some questions in the Assembly on an exciting report done by the Urban Land Institute into the development at the U of A’s south campus. The report advocated a bold goal for the south campus that by 2035, if everyone on Earth lived like the proposed community at the south campus, we’d arrest climate change and live sustainably within the limited resources of our planet. To the Minister of Environment: last November 17 he said that he expected to receive the final report shortly, so has he now received it?

Mr. Renner: Well, Mr. Speaker, thank you. And thank you to the member for this question because, frankly, I had forgotten that this report was under way. I’m pleased to advise the member that we have received a draft of the report. It was received a couple of weeks ago. Our staff are providing some additional input, and we should have that complete in the next two weeks. We then would expect that the university would be in a position to release the final draft of the report in three weeks to a month.

Dr. Taft: Well, that’s great news. To the Minister of Advanced Education and Technology: given that last November 17 the minister said that this report would be circulated widely among Campus Alberta and officials in his own department, has this happened, and has the report had an impact?

Mr. Horner: Mr. Speaker, indeed, the advice from the report actually makes up part of the University of Alberta’s institutional access plan and, as such, will be spread throughout Campus Alberta. In terms of the advice that was given and some of the ideas that were there, by all indications it was a very successful symposium to develop the kind of advice that Campus Alberta can look to for sustainable innovation in the future. We will incorporate that in each institution’s individual access plan for their capital.

Dr. Taft: Again to the same minister: does the Department of Advanced Education and Technology place any standards for sustainability on new buildings built by universities, and if so, will he make them public?

Mr. Horner: Well, we do, I guess, depend upon the boards of governance and the executives at all of these institutions to work with us in terms of the capital plans. As in the case of the University of Alberta, we expect that they’re going to be doing their work in terms of the type of capital plan that they want to put forward as it relates to the access plans that we have. It’s about student placement, Mr. Speaker, and it’s about sustainable communities for students to do what they need to do.

 

 

Date: Thu Mar 25 21:51:00 MDT 2010 Author: Rebecca IP: 68.149.137.22